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You know, I should have learned my lesson with D&D: Temple of Elemental Evil. I should have learned it even more with Matrix: Path of Neo. But no, I decided to give Atari another chance to prove they don't simply publish cds filled with code randomly banged out by an infinite number of monkeys that happens to include a tutorial that will trick you into thinking your game isn't crippled.
Let's start with the good. Seriously, the game is beautiful, even at resolutions like 1680x1050. The detail on your character and their power pack is very impressive, and the ghosts are fantastic looking, as well as the streams you use to bring them down. Accordingly, the sound of your power pack is dead-on with the movie. The voice acting by the main characters is as if it was a third movie, except in the case of Bill Murray, who seems to be parodying himself playing Peter Venkman.
In addition, the general controls are tight. The system by which you catch ghosts is fundamental and makes a good deal of sense in connection with what they did in the movies. All of these things would add up to a good game, but just wait.
Now comes the bad news. First of all, and I do mean FIRST, just try to install the damn thing. The Atari forums are swamped with people asking what the hell is going on when they choose "Custom Installation", and the install either freezes, or finishes with an "install was interrupted and was not finished" dialogue at the end. So my description of the above good points is predicated upon you being able to install the damn thing. I took the advice of one person and simply copied over the remaining files from the install disc, but this is entirely unacceptable for such a big-name title. The result meant I had to make my own shortcuts, too.
Next, we get into the game, and start fiddling with the settings. I'll forgo the fact that I counted six or seven intro movies for the various companies involved with the game, which is getting out of hand. I start changing my resolution, but I can see the ever-present flicker on my CRT. 60Hz? That's not desirable. So first, I turn off the default option in the settings called "Lock 30Hz refresh rate".
30Hz? On a computer? Are you f'ing kidding? Nope, and right underneath is another option "Lock 60Hz refresh rate". I don't know about you, but I game at a bare minimum of 75Hz. I eventually tracked down a settings file hidden in my application data, but have yet to discover if there is a line I can add to set the refresh rate to something that doesn't make me queasy after 20 minutes of play. This is just sloppy code, which comes to epitomize the rest of the game.
However, I wanted to venture on. Next up? Oh, one save file. You don't have a profile, you just start the game. Well, that's great if you have two people in the same apartment who both want to play the game. Wonderful. Ugh.
Now, you finally get into the game. Oh look. No save system other than checkpoints. It just gets better and better. Well, with all I mentioned above, it can't be that bad, right?
Well, it isn't...until you get into levels with water on the floor, and the frame rate turns to a slideshow. I have an [email protected], GTX260 OC'd, 6GB of memory...and I was running at 1680x1050 with most of the settings on low. There is no reason the slowdowns that were occurring throughout should have been happening. At other times, the game is smooth as silk. This kind of wildly unstable performance absolutely ruins the game. At certain points, the slowdown is so bad, it prevents you from moving certain directions, because the movement becomes super-sensitive. The game becomes unplayable, and I even tried it at 1280x1024 with no success.
Atari, you have swindled me out of my money once again. Folks, don't make the same mistake. Maybe the console version is better.
Let's start with the good. Seriously, the game is beautiful, even at resolutions like 1680x1050. The detail on your character and their power pack is very impressive, and the ghosts are fantastic looking, as well as the streams you use to bring them down. Accordingly, the sound of your power pack is dead-on with the movie. The voice acting by the main characters is as if it was a third movie, except in the case of Bill Murray, who seems to be parodying himself playing Peter Venkman.
In addition, the general controls are tight. The system by which you catch ghosts is fundamental and makes a good deal of sense in connection with what they did in the movies. All of these things would add up to a good game, but just wait.
Now comes the bad news. First of all, and I do mean FIRST, just try to install the damn thing. The Atari forums are swamped with people asking what the hell is going on when they choose "Custom Installation", and the install either freezes, or finishes with an "install was interrupted and was not finished" dialogue at the end. So my description of the above good points is predicated upon you being able to install the damn thing. I took the advice of one person and simply copied over the remaining files from the install disc, but this is entirely unacceptable for such a big-name title. The result meant I had to make my own shortcuts, too.
Next, we get into the game, and start fiddling with the settings. I'll forgo the fact that I counted six or seven intro movies for the various companies involved with the game, which is getting out of hand. I start changing my resolution, but I can see the ever-present flicker on my CRT. 60Hz? That's not desirable. So first, I turn off the default option in the settings called "Lock 30Hz refresh rate".
30Hz? On a computer? Are you f'ing kidding? Nope, and right underneath is another option "Lock 60Hz refresh rate". I don't know about you, but I game at a bare minimum of 75Hz. I eventually tracked down a settings file hidden in my application data, but have yet to discover if there is a line I can add to set the refresh rate to something that doesn't make me queasy after 20 minutes of play. This is just sloppy code, which comes to epitomize the rest of the game.
However, I wanted to venture on. Next up? Oh, one save file. You don't have a profile, you just start the game. Well, that's great if you have two people in the same apartment who both want to play the game. Wonderful. Ugh.
Now, you finally get into the game. Oh look. No save system other than checkpoints. It just gets better and better. Well, with all I mentioned above, it can't be that bad, right?
Well, it isn't...until you get into levels with water on the floor, and the frame rate turns to a slideshow. I have an [email protected], GTX260 OC'd, 6GB of memory...and I was running at 1680x1050 with most of the settings on low. There is no reason the slowdowns that were occurring throughout should have been happening. At other times, the game is smooth as silk. This kind of wildly unstable performance absolutely ruins the game. At certain points, the slowdown is so bad, it prevents you from moving certain directions, because the movement becomes super-sensitive. The game becomes unplayable, and I even tried it at 1280x1024 with no success.
Atari, you have swindled me out of my money once again. Folks, don't make the same mistake. Maybe the console version is better.
